What is a Road Safety Audit?

A Road Safety Audit is an evaluation of a highway improvement scheme during design, at the end of construction and post-construction, to identify road safety problems and to suggest measures to eliminate or mitigate any problems. Road Safety Audits are undertaken by teams of specialists trained in the skills of accident investigation and road safety engineering.

All strategic road schemes and the majority of new works are required to have an independent Road Safety Audit. Road Safety Audits aim to identify potential road safety hazards arising from planned changes to the road layout but are not technical checks against design standards or traffic regulations.

In carrying out Road Safety Audits, the Audit team should consider road safety issues for all road users and will ask two key questions of the scheme

• Who could be hurt in a collision on this part of the road and how could that happen?
• What can be done to reduce the potential for that collision or to limit its consequences?

Road Safety Audits

Safety Audits are conducted in accordance with HD19/03 of the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (Road Safety Audit)

Road Safety Audits go through four key phases and are as follows:-

• Stage 1
• Completion of preliminary design, preferably prior to the submission for planning permission
• Stage 2
• Completion of detailed design, usually before the tender documents have been submitted
• Stage 3
• Completion of construction prior to opening (or completion if on a ‘live’ highway)
• Stage 4
• Accident monitoring (12 months and 36 months after opening of the highway scheme)

Sometimes the Safety Audits can be combined; most often if the works are smaller in nature, or time scales are tight a Stage 1 & 2 Road Safety Audit maybe carried out together.

Some highway improvement schemes may not require a Stage 4 Road Safety Audits unless the relevant authority request further accident monitoring/investigation.

The Road Safety Audit team members may be from the same company undertaking the Highway Improvement scheme design but have to be independent of any scheme design or process.

Road Safety Audits may be undertaken on highway schemes covering:

• Major and minor highway improvements
• Traffic management and calming schemes
• Pedestrian and cycling schemes
• Roundabout junctions
• New or amended traffic signal junctions
• Priority junctions
• Motorway improvement

Non-Motorised User Audits

Government policy encourages consideration of the needs of non-motorised users and supports efforts to increase safety and accessibility by non-motorised modes.

The non-motorised user audit is defined as: A systematic process applied to Highway Schemes, by which the Design Team identifies scheme objectives for non-motorised users, documents the design decisions affecting non-motorised users, and reviews designs and construction to assess how well objectives have been achieved.

Non-motorised users are considered to be pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians. Non-motorised user audits require particular consideration to be given to the needs of disabled people, who may use any of these modes or other equipment such as wheelchairs.

Require Assistance with a Road Safety Audit?

Sanderson Associates have extensive experience in providing Road Safety Audits for a wide variety of major and minor developments throughout the whole of the UK, Isle of Man and Ireland.

We would be pleased to provide you with our competitive fee quotation to provide you with our Road Safety Audit Services, please call us on 01924 844080 or click here to visit our online secure server fee quote request form.